A relationship-driven IT Firm, by our own Steve Smith

I’ve been in the IT staffing services business for almost 15 years and in that time frame, I can think of a few words that seem to be overused or thrown out with reckless abandon. Relationship and Partnership are two of those words that come to mind. Many of my competitors tout the “relationships” with their candidates or “partnerships” with their clients when in reality they have neither. In some cases I know this to be true, but many times these words are overused as adjectives to spice up what is otherwise a one sided affair. I recall one firm desperately trying to convince everyone that the most important item on the agenda was the candidate experience. This sounded great, but there was no substance to back up the tagline, as they offered no health insurance options for consultants, accrued paid time off, paid holidays or retirement investment options. However, I guess because they “said” it’s all about the candidate experience, well then, I guess we’re all supposed to believe that.

So here comes CLICK IT Staffing, the new kid on the block in the local / regional IT talent acquisition space touting that we ARE the Relationship Driven Firm. So what does this mean? There is no doubt that we are in business to make money. Our investors chose to put their money behind CLICK for a multitude of reasons, but mainly because they’re smart and they believe they can get a return on their investment. Nothing earth shattering here – investing in business to make a profit and get a return on investment. But it’s about HOW we’re going about achieving those objectives that will ultimately separate us from the pack.

At CLICK IT we believe that by putting others’ wants and needs first, we’ll get our reward in the end. From a candidate perspective, it’s truly about understanding what’s important to the person. What they’re seeking in a new role from the work environment, culture, technology to financial considerations, the more we know about people the better able we’ll be to align them with opportunities that are consistent to their desires. We’ll have real open and honest discussions and invite you to come to our office to meet with us, or pick a location and we’ll come meet you. What we’re not going to do is talk with you for ten minutes, pitch seven different jobs, submit and then forget all about you unless a hiring manager calls us back. That is exactly opposite of how we operate.

From a clients’ perspective, it’s about not only trying to understand your business, what you do and the nuances of your industry, but also diving into the culture and everything that’s not written on the job description. My goal is not to flood you with resumes and candidate submittals, but rather presenting two, maybe three of the best candidates in the market. I’ll be there to back our resources up. If we make a mistake, I’ll find a way to fix it or make amends. I won’t hide from you and I won’t delay the conversations where bad news needs to be delivered. I’ll be real, up front and honest in our dealings and I’ll value the relationship and hopefully the friendship that develops from it. We are in a service oriented business and its service that we intend to deliver.

I’m excited about what we are building here at CLICK. I’m excited about the people who’ve come on board to help us achieve our goals and objectives. I’m proud to be associated with a group of people and investors that truly care about others and want to make money along the way. As my father-in-law always tells me, “profit is not a bad word”. So there you have my ramblings and first CLICK IT Blog contribution.

“A relationship, I think, is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark.” —Woody Allen